Observer Food Monthly Awards 2012: Introduction by Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater at home in North London. Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Observer Food Monthly

Each year, we celebrate the best of the food world, from young chefs and campaigners, to bakers and bloggers and scientists and shops. We honour everything from cafes and cookbooks and butchers and bars to school projects and the achievements of an entire lifetime. There is a handful of famous names but the majority of awards go to unsung heroes.

A few of the awards are decided by a panel of judges, and thanks to them for all their hard work. But most of the winners are decided by you, the readers, sending in your votes for everything from the best Sunday lunch to the most worthy independent retailer. The team at OFM cannot thank you enough for the thousands of votes you sent in. Votes that have once again ensured that those working the length and breadth of the country get a chance to be recognised for their achievements.

The Observer Food Monthly awards highlight the extraordinary energy and commitment in the food business and applaud the work being done countrywide.

There are celebrations for a community that converts urban wasteland into farms, training unemployed people to grow and sell produce across the capital, and a lifetime achievement award for a man whose effect on the food world can never be overestimated.

The awards help small businesses and independent producers all over the country to achieve recognition, and hopefully, they inspire the next generation of cooks and chefs and producers.

Over the last decade, the OFM awards have become such an important part of the country's food scene that we have devoted almost the entire issue to them. We hope you will join us in a round of applause for our much deserved winners and runners up.

Oh and after years of applauding Jamie and Gordon and Hugh and Heston collecting their personality of the year award, I finally get to pick one up myself. A heartfelt thank you from me. Cheers to you all.